Yesterday after I finished my shopping I hoped back in the RX. When I tried to start my car it went to ****. Basically, it 3/4 started and it sounded like awful, naturally I let off the keys. Like a dumb *** I forgot to turn off the AC and had the radio on . After turning everything off, it would not even crank at all. It had juice and I could not even push start it.

When I turned the keys I can hear one click and then nothing. But I could see and smell smoke (yes it smells electrical) coming from where the starter is. But i can't really tell see since the starter is not visible.. So naturally I stopped trying to crank it over. Obviously I fried something. Any ideas?


Thanks

 

This exact thing happened to me once, and believe it or not it ended up being a short in my engine management harness. I guess it goes through the firewall in an elbow and the the metal elbow was grounding out my wires, so naturally it wouldn't start. Shitty. Try to wiggle the harness to see if that works for you.

 

The only simple thing that I can think of is that your starter pinion gear is jammed. If it is jammed and engaged in the flywheel that might be ugly. If you turn on the starter, get a click, this may create a dead short in the starter caused by the jammed pinion gear.

Steve Bradley